


Wish You Were Here

by UpDownLeftGone



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Drifting Apart, Inspired by Music, M/M, Reminiscing, Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-07-25 00:03:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20023225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UpDownLeftGone/pseuds/UpDownLeftGone
Summary: All it takes is a song to remind Yosuke of a life long past and a friend long gone.





	Wish You Were Here

_ So, so you think you can tell _

_ Heaven from hell  _

_ Blue skies from pain _

It was a late Tuesday night - well, actually, Wednesday morning, close to closing time. A song he hadn’t heard in years was being played melodically to an audience inside, the noise flowing through a glass sliding door and out to where Yosuke was standing. The band was good, better then most of the bar-hopping bands you would find this late on a weekday night, still for some reason Yosuke couldn’t take himself to go inside while the song played.

_ Can you tell a green field  _

_ From a cold steel rail? _

_ A smile from a vail?  _

_ Do you think you can tell…? _

Instead, he stood on the patio, watching the bustling city beneath him. People walking, lights flashing, friends laughing. Dimmed LEDs wound their way around the glass barrier he was leaning on, keeping him from falling to the grey streets below. The sky above was lit up with different oranges and blues from the city lights, masking the stars and even rivaling the moon. Behind him, there were only a few other people, mainly couples and friend groups attempting to escape the loud music inside. He didn’t mind them much and they returned the favor, staying in their own little cliques, so it worked out well. With a sigh, he took a sip of his drink, just a classic rum and coke one of his bandmates paid for after a good opening earlier. They liked to hang around after a gig if they weren’t the last band playing, but little by little everyone he knew would go home, leaving Yosuke alone in the bar.

_ Did they get you to trade _

_ Your heroes for ghosts? _

_ Hot ashes for trees...? _

  
  


He didn’t mind it, really. Sometimes he’d meet someone really cool, a new story to hear, a new person to know, all of that. Other times he’d end up out on the deck, always in the same place, once again looking down at the city he loved as a kid and was still learning to love again. 

_ Hot air for a cool breeze? _

_ Cold comfort for change...? _

The lights and bustle and just, well, activity of the city was a far cry from where he’d spent his high school and university years in the small town of Inaba. He still remembered the feeling when he first found out they were moving away, the thought of leaving all this - the excitement, the lights, the razzle-dazzle of the city - behind disgusted him. Why would he want to live out in some good-for-nothing town anyways? He had the same mindset for a whole 6 months after he was dragged there. It was dull. There was nothing special. No cool people, just him, his parents, and some lousy school kids. But, that was back then. After all, little did he know those lousy school kids would help him defeat a mass murderer and subsequently allow him to feel fulfilled for the first, and really only, time in his life. And even littler did he know that one person in the group would become his life-long best friend, or... at least that’s what he thought. Still thought, really. His name was Souji Seta, and sometimes Yosuke wondered what would have happened had he said what he felt before Souji moved farther away than he already was.

_ Did you exchange _

_ A walk on part in the war _

_ For a lead role in a cage...? _

He still remembered the day Souji told him the news. He was in town for Golden Week - he always visited when he could. Those first few years it really was whenever he got the chance, breaks, holidays, even just sometimes on a random Sunday. Over the years, however, it was whittled down to a few days during Golden Week and occasionally during summer or winter break. Still, even though he wasn’t in Inaba, Tokyo really wasn’t super far away by train, only a few hours actually. Yosuke could live with that. A few visits were better than none, and he had plans for the future anyways.

_ How I wish, how I wish you were here _

_ We're just two lost souls _

_ Swimming in a fish bowl _

_ Year after year... _

Inaba’s overlook was always beautiful, especially during sunset. A far cry from the never-ending rush of the city, the small town just always seemed to turn off after a certain time; the sunlight turning into an occasional street post, or the soft orange glow from the windows of a family home. It was like someone flicked an invisible switch, telling everyone to close up shop and go home for the night. You could catch that exact moment if you were by the overlook at the right time. Yosuke caught himself there more than once his last year of uni, his last year living in Inaba. 

By Golden Week, it was finalized he would be moving back to Tokyo, just a month after he graduated. He planned on telling Souji before the end of the week, it was supposed to be a surprise. Well, as much of a surprise as it could have been, considering all of their friends had already moved away. Most of them went elsewhere to pursue degrees or expand their businesses. Really, the Amagis were the only people who stayed, and even then Yukiko found herself in Okina most of the time. Many of the businesses in the old shopping district were gone, Aiya’s the latest one to close up at the time. 

This was especially obvious from the overlook, the amount of soft glows radiating from homes dwindling quicker and quicker as the months passed by. That day he remembered sighing into his hands as the sun went down and the town was plunged into darkness, this time the only lights being the stars with nothing to rival the moon, the only sounds the song playing through his headphones. 

_ Running over the same old ground... _

He felt a presence and tensed before moving one headphone off his ear, allowing him to hear the crunching of gravel behind him. 

Souji leaned on the wooden post next to Yosuke, looking longingly over the town, a nostalgic expression on his face. Yosuke glanced over at him, but he didn’t look back. 

“... I saw you up here, decided to come join you.” Souji still didn’t look over at Yosuke. 

“O- oh.” Yosuke looked over at him curiously, and noticed the other boy gazing down at his feet. 

“You know,” he sighed for a second, glancing away, “I’m really going to miss this place.” Yosuke stood up straight, giving Souji a curious look. They were silent for a minute as Souji looked at Yosuke and then back over the wooden fence. “... I got a really good internship opportunity overseas.” 

Yosuke froze, his mouth slightly agape. Souji was looking over at him again. 

“I… I know. But I’ll be back, I swear it.”

Yosuke could have done something there, he could have said how much he didn’t want Souji to leave, how a large part of the reason he was moving back to Tokyo was because of him. He could have gotten mad, or upset. Could have cried or argued. He didn’t want to be farther away, he wanted to be closer. 

He could have done all of those things, but he didn’t, he just stood there silently as the music played from the headphones around his neck. 

_ And how we found... _

Eventually Yosuke regained enough composure to nod his head and smile a little bit. 

Souji smiled back, “we still have texting and cell phones, after all. And like I said, I’ll be back. I don’t know when, but I’ll be back.” 

Yosuke cautiously approached the fence again, propping his arm up and resting his head there. They stayed there for a little longer, silently looking over the dying town as Yosuke watched his future slip away before him.

_ The same old fears... _

That was over 7 years ago now. Texting and calling turned out to be more of a challenge than either of them had anticipated. Eventually, it got to the point where they both had to move on with their lives. Other than a few short phone calls maybe a year or two ago now, they hadn’t talked since. 

Now, he had just gotten the message from his parents about a day ago. Junes, the department store his parents so proudly managed in Inaba, was shuttering its doors. There just wasn’t enough people left in the town to keep sales up, it really was an inevitable doom almost brought on by itself. Still, thus went his last connection to Inaba, a town they all worked so hard to remember now more likely than ever to be forgotten by time. 

He took the last swig of his drink and looked down at the city that would never replace the small town, the deck of a bar that will never replace the old overlook, blinding lights that will never replace the soft glow of the old street lamps or the stars in the sky. He sniffled in surprise as a tear fell into his empty cup. 

_ Wish you were here. _

The band continued on to the familiar acoustic guitar solo as more tears dripped down. He picked a few chords from his memory, an e-minor chord here, a g chord there... What would make this ok? What if the whole IT were still here? Could they once again save Inaba? No… that was just wishful thinking. 

A c chord. 

He continued to stare absentmindedly over the city, at the very least he still had himself and his band members and all the new friends he had made over the last 7 years. He would be just fine. 7 years… maybe it really was finally time to move on. 

A g chord rang out as the music dyed down into applause. 

A small smile crossed his face as closing time was announced inside the bar, disappointed “awes” echoing through people clapping and moving chairs. 

By this time, everyone else on the balcony had retreated inside to collect their friends and belongings to go home, which was why Yosuke was slightly surprised to hear the door opening behind him. 

Still, he didn’t think much of it until he heard footsteps approaching him. Before he could turn around, a hand was on his shoulder. He froze, just like that night in Inaba.

There was a beat of silence as the person behind him took a deep, slightly shaky breath.

“... Yosuke?”

**Author's Note:**

> Had this random thought of a picture of Yosuke looking over Inaba’s overlook at sunset contrasting a picture of him looking over some deck in Tokyo at night. Sadly, I’m not what the kids call “artistically talented” so I decided to try writing it out instead of drawing it out. I’ve actually had this written for awhile, but reminded myself of it since I finally picked up the guitar and just started learning Wish You Were Here. Love that song, man. 
> 
> Basically I love forcefully ripping these two apart and then sticking then back together with the glue of friendship and the safety-pins of love. Starting to think I'm some sort of author masochist but its fine.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed reading! <3


End file.
